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Meat Boy
Meat Boy

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What do you think about 4 hour workday?

As the civilization we have moved on with technology, education and overall life status. Sycophants praising honest toil seem to lose interest and more people are looking for leisure time. What is your opinion on 4 or 6 hour workday?

Latest comments (6)

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otacke profile image
Oliver Tacke

I probably am in a different situation than what you have in mind - I am a freelancer - but I definitely do not have a regular 8 hour day. I do not distinguish between "working days" and weekends, sometimes I work for only 4 hours or even less, sometimes 8 or more, sometimes not at all and I simply take a day off. And either way, its quite fragmented. Complete something, maybe do errands, complete something else or hit a block, maybe play with the cats, work some more, ...

In total, it's probably not much more or less compared to someone who is employed by someone. I wouldn't want to trade though. I enjoy my freedom despite all the uncertainty that freelancing brings. Also, I like what I do, so I wouldn't even want to "reduce hours" and I don't feel "exploited".

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moopet profile image
Ben Sinclair

I think it's unfair to people who have jobs that can't be split that way, but that just because it's not fair doesn't mean it's not a step in the right direction towards fair.

The corny old science-fiction utopia that we see in things like Star Trek (explicitly laid out in this week's Orville) is a post-scarcity society where nobody has to work. Where "work" is something you elect to do for other reasons like personal satisfaction or reputation.

I see a common complaint amongst retirees is that they have nothing to do. They've spent their lives working 40-60 hours per week and suddenly they're stuck at home, bored with everything they try.

I'd prefer to live without work, my every need provided for by technology and nature. We're not there yet, and won't be in my lifetime, but society exists to let people exist together without hurting each other, and civilisation is supposed to be the way this cooperation pushes that forwards towards utopia.

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tswiftma profile image
tswiftma

With remote work I think that most days have flexible hours. It may be 4-8 hours of focused work. I focus on getting an achievable task or story done. If I feel that if I have accomplished something useful I might stop working for the day.

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rounakcodes profile image
rounakcodes • Edited

I wonder if people who talk about work in terms of hours even find any meaning in the work they do! Guess, these are the people who work only to pay their bills or because they have no choice. I hope you get to do what you really want to

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sirseanofloxley profile image
Sean Allin Newell

I work at a four day work week, 8 hr days (32 hr, get paid like a normal 40)

I think if a 4-6 hr work day was spread out or strategically implemented, it would make sense, but especially with my condensed 4 day work week, I don't think less than 8 hrs is tenable.

My context is mote startup/ scale up, so there's tons of engaging work to do.

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Sherry Day

One way or another, the "8 hour work day" is probably somewhat irrelevant to modern distributed knowledge work.

It will be interesting to see if any new "norms" can really take off. I don't think it's clear that it will blankly result in a shorter work day, but I imagine a more flexible workday has to be inevitable.